Improving the Health, Fitness, and Performance of Young Basketball Players

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Protein Problem?

I was just reading an article about the misconceptions that high school athletes have about protein supplement use.

The article, scheduled to be published next month in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, asked high school football players about the importance of using protein supplements when training to improve athletic ability.

As they predicted these athletes had many inaccurate beliefs about using protein supplements, including:

"Protein supplements are necessary to gain weight through weight lifting" - FALSE- you can gain muscle mass while weight training from protein in a food or a supplement.

"Protein supplements are better than a high-protein food for gaining weight through weight training" - FALSE - There's no advantage of protein found in supplements over protein found in food.

"Protein supplements are a good source of energy during a workout" - FALSE- Carbohydrates (mostly) and fat (in some cases) are what keeps you going during a workout or game. Protein is a muscle building block, not a fuel.

"Taking protein supplements will stop me from gaining unwanted fat on my body" - FALSE - If you take in too many calories (either as carbohydrate, fat, or protein) you will store those extra calories as fat.

So how best to get the protein you need?

According to the authors of this article, strength athletes need between 1.6 and 1.7 grams of protein for every kilogram (2.2 pounds) of body weight. Most adolescent boys eat this much in an average day. If you want to take a protein shake after a workout, that's OK, but you're paying $$ for the convenience.

Are there any dangers in taking too much protein?

The jury is still out, but some of the potential bad effects of too much protein include:

excess fat gain

dehydration

gout

kidney damage

diarrhea

bloating

colon cancer

What should I eat?

Try to use high-protein, low-fat foods like:

cheese made with skim milk

skim milk

low-fat yogurt

chicken

turkey

fish

Who should I talk to if I want more information?

I'd go with an expert like a registered dietician who has special training in sports nutrition. Don't know where to find one? Look here.

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About the Author

The author is a Basketball Medicine Physician who is
Board Certified in both Pediatrics and in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.He is a Member of the Council on Sports Medicine and Fitness of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Member, Sports Medicine Special Interest Group, American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and
Member, American College of Sports Medicine.
He lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA where he enjoys watching, playing, and thinking about basketball.
He created this blog to improve the health, fitness and performance of young athletes so that they can keep playing, and learning from, the game of basketball.

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Disclaimer

The content of this blog is designed for your general education and is presented in summary form. The information on this blog is not intended to be relied on for medical diagnosis or treatment. Medical information changes rapidly. Information contained here is not intended to be and should not be used as a substitute for medical advice. YOU SHOULD NEVER DISREGARD MEDICAL ADVICE YOU HAVE RECEIVED FROM YOUR PHYSICIAN OR OTHER QUALIFIED HEALTH CARE PROVIDER OR DELAY IN SEEKING IT BECAUSE OF ANYTHING YOU READ ON THIS BLOG. Should you have any health related questions, please contact your physician or other qualified health care provider promptly.